Perennial Avantgarde

I found this book in the leftover bin after my school library held a sale. I have to say that although it was cool to get a free book that is interesting, this book only blew my mind because it is beyond amazing. It was a while ago that I'd read it, so it's not completely fresh in my mind. The book is a conversation/discourse about art, being an independant thinker, how art plays into culture and various people's attitude towards art, etc. It also talks about modern American culture and the lack of "myth" it has, or at least long-lasting myths, in the sense that hollywood movies or pop stars are a "myth" (most of whom loses the "fad" side to their appeal very quickly) or that folklores are "myths". It seems to be part of a view of America as a new youngling (as compared to Europe) that is too technical and inexperienced, having only dealt with the technical efficiencies but not with basic problems about human behavior which are less clearly definable and understandable; that is, how to create a system that can actually SUSTAIN itself - with machines it is physical and the solution obvious, with humans its murky. The book is written in two tenses; one is the author narrating his views, the other is a novel. Both run parallel (fairly parallel) and alternate chapter by chapter. Since the topic of this book is about art and people, different people can see things differently, and it is something hard to pin down. As well, many people define "art" differently. However, for the purposes of how I see art, I'd say that the author has a view which I totally relate to and I think he has elucidated his view well.